July 7 & 8, 2023
City Theatre Main Stage
Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble
Carter PANN: Antares
James MOBBERLY: Words of Love
Thomas ALBERT: Night Music
William Ford | 13 JUL 2023
One of my more enjoyabl summertime pursuits has been a kind of annual pilgrimage to my hometown, Pittsburgh. This is a city I know so well and have thoroughly enjoyed, from its beautiful downtown to its sometimes-gritty neighborhoods, to its rich summer music schedule. But this year was different; I found myself strangely disquieted, distracted, and unengaged. But I told myself that certainly attending a concert by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (PNME) should refresh my spirit, energy, and outlook.
As is my habit, I read the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s review of the previous evening’s PNME concert. I couldn’t read the full article since it was behind a paywall, but the teaser said something to the effect that this was going to be the final summer series for PNME. That news, incomplete as it was, added to my uncomfortable feelings.
But I spent most of the day before the concert touring some spectacular gardens in the tony Pittsburgh northern suburbs with names like Wexford, McCandless, Pine, and Richland (!). I then drove into the South Side of Pittsburgh, where PNME has its concerts. The South Side is a gritty, formerly working-class semi-industrial neighborhood that sprang to life about two decades ago to become a nightlife hotspot with all manner of restaurants and bars.
PNME was founded by composer David Stock in 1976. Current Artistic Director Kevin Noe said that PNME has commissioned more than 300 new works since its inception. Noe has introduced theatrical elements (lighting, staging, etc.) so that PNME proclaims itself to be a “Theater of Music,” which is certainly an apt description. In the past, even the stage arrangements signaled something special was about to happen, and that was the case on July 8, where two centers of seating/instrumentation meant that there would be rearrangement during the performance. In addition, Noe has recently added earphones at each seat. This is for each audience member to listen to the concert binaurally, which provides incredible intimacy with the music. It is as if the listener is surrounded by the music and musicians.
The first work on the program was Antares by composer Carter Pann, who is professor of composition at the University of Colorado Boulder. He also was a finalist of the Pulitzer in Music in 2016. He says that his work is a musical representation of the super-giant star in the Scorpio constellation. It was written for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, all of whom were seated stage right. The publisher, Presser, describes the music as “celestial, often evoking a cosmic sense, and a fell of stellar beauty and stagnancy.” The thoroughly enjoyable music didn’t give me any of that, but it did give me a bit of a chance to engage with the music and ignore my still gnawing, uneasy feelings. Of course, given the international roster of PNME musicians playing, the music shimmered, glowed, growled, and caught fire as necessary.
The second work was James Mobberley’s Words of Love. Mobberley is Curators’ Distinguished Emeritus Professor at the Conservatory at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where Noe is also on faculty. The sometimes lyrical, sometimes passionate music is derived from a letter that the composer’s father sent to the love of his life, his wife of 61 years. The lyrics were sung by PNME’s resident soprano, Lindsay Kesselman, who’s rich, robust soprano never fails to impress. Notable in this performance were her facial expressions needed to make unmusical words sound both musical and intelligible. In his introduction to the work, Noe stressed how listening binaurally with the headphones would improve the balance between Kesselman’s voice and the musicians who were seated stage left, although I found the effect to be negligible. Words gave percussionist Ian Rosenbaum a chance to display his incredible talents, although I found the thunderous bass drum to be a bit odd, given the content of the work.
The final work was Thomas Albert’s Night Music, a 2006 PNME commission and world premiere. It was written for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano. Three nocturn-like pieces are interspersed with two movements that are more agitated and nightmarish. The Third of the sections includes a recording of singing birds that was quite effective when heard through the headphones. This section also included quotations from Joseph Lamb’s “Ragtime Nightingale,” which was a toe-tapper! Albert’s music was engaging throughout, and the PNME musicians again played with precision.
Post-concert I had a chance to talk with Kevin Noe. He shared that PNME can no longer afford its residence at the City Theater. There seemed to be three reasons for this:
- The theater’s rent has increased markedly,
- A major donor to PNME has decided to redirect its donation to health-related causes, and
- Attendance has dropped significantly post-COVID.
It’s likely that PNME will transform its season into concerts scheduled throughout the year using different venues, including individual homes if indeed it is possible.
Our conversation gave credence to my anxieties. Like other cities, Pittsburgh has transformed itself post-COVID, but not in a good way. The streets have become filled with litter; the unhoused dominate what used to be the downtown’s primary shopping district. Doorways to stores are blocked with sleeping bags, and the casual pedestrian is panhandled several times within a block. The South Side was rocked by shootings a few hours after the PNME concerts, just a few blocks away from the City Theater, and several establishments have announced closures as a result.
And the culture has changed: the Pittsburgh Festival Opera, formerly a summertime staple, has posted nothing new on its website for months and offered no summer schedule this year. The Pittsburgh Playhouse of Point Park University has petitioned to gate its previously welcoming outdoor plaza to reduce drug paraphernalia and human excrement. Unfortunately, local officials seem not to care or are not paying attention to what is happening to their once beautiful city, frequently praised for its livability. But for me, Pittsburgh’s problems make it no longer worth the drive to get there.
These are not good looks for Pittsburgh, or for any city, for that matter. I can only hope that Noe and crew find a way to make it work and to continue the PNME “Theater of Music.” It would be a loss of new music if it doesn’t happen. ■
Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble’s 2023 Summer Season runs Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM through the end of July at City Theatre, Pittsburgh.
EXTERNAL LINKS:
- Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble: pnme.org
Read more by William Ford.
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